Second World War Books

Book SynopsisFrom the bestselling author of The Dressmaker's Gift. She's spent a lifetime searching for him. Is this her last chance to find the truth?Philly Delaney risked everything during the war. From flying planes for the Air Transport Auxiliary corps, aka the Attagirls', to working with the Bletchley Park codebreakers, and life-or-death missions as an SOE agent in France, she and her colleagues pushed their courageand their luckto the limits. Joining biographer Kendra and her family on the stunning, sun-drenched Île de Ré, Philly is ready to reveal her extraordinary life story. But she has another reason for being there: she's never given up searching for her beloved pilot husband, Ben. Shot down during a dangerous mission, this is the only place left where she might discover what happened to him. Listening to Philly's war stories, Kendra's young son Finn decides to use his own unique skills in maths, logic and persistence to track down Ben's final resting placeand the answers that Philly longs for. Can they solve the decades-long mystery of Ben's disappearance together? Because sometimes, lost people are still out there, just waiting to be foundA wonderfully immersive, atmospheric and moving story of wartime resilience, hope, lossand the enduring power of love.

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewGerman writer Norman Ohler's astonishing account of methamphetamine addiction in the Third Reich changes what we know about the second world war .. Blitzed looks set to reframe the way certain aspects of the Third Reich will be viewed in the future -- Rachel Cooke * Guardian *A huge contribution... remarkable -- Antony Beevor * BBC RADIO 4 *Blitzed is making me rethink everything I've ever seen and read about WWII. It emotionally and technically makes sense of previously unexplainable aspects of that war. It makes me want to revisit other books on it with the hindsight of knowing these newly exposed truths. It was terrific! -- Douglas CouplandThe picture he paints is both a powerful and an extreme one... gripping reading -- Anna Katharina Schaffner * Times Literary Supplement *Remarkable... energetic... retells the history of the war through the prism of the pill... it has an uncanny ability to disturb -- Roger Boyes * The Times *Very good and extremely interesting - a serious piece of scholarship very well-researched -- Ian Kershaw author of Hitler and To Hell and BackThe most brilliant and fascinating book I have read in my entire life -- Dan SnowNorman Ohler has succeeded in a remarkable scoop, by studying in detail the notebooks of Hitler's personal doctor and demonstrating that Hitler was a far worse junkie than we had ever imagined. He has also unearthed the way that the German army did not march on its stomach, but on methamphetamine. The supposedly clean-living Nazis, who accused the Jews of corrupting German youth, were the real pushers. The book, written with delightful irony, is an eye-opener. -- Antony Beevor * Guardian *This book transforms the overall picture * Hans Mommsen *Sensational * Daily Mail *Bursting with interesting facts * Vice *Norman Ohler has written an illuminating account of the gobsmacking extent to which military strategy in the Third Reich relied on drugs. ... What you'll learn: Never trust a coked-up Nazi * ShortList *A fascinating, most extraordinary revelation * BBC World News *The Nazis were all on drugs! So far, so sensationalist but German writer Norman Ohler's absorbing new non-fiction book, Blitzed, makes the convincing argument that the Nazis' use of chemical stimulants... played a crucial role in the successes, and failures, of the Third Reich * Esquire *An audacious, compelling read * Stern *Enthralling * Mitteldeutsche Zeitung *A revelatory work that considers Hitler's career in a new light. 'Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich' is that rare sort of book whose remarkable insight focuses on a subject that's been overlooked, even disregarded by historians * The San Francisco Chronicle *Blitzed is a fascinating read that provides a new facet to our understanding of the Third Reich * Buzzfeed *It's as breezy and darkly humorous as its title. But don't be fooled by the gallows humor of chapter names like 'Sieg High' and 'High Hitler': This is a serious and original work of scholarship that dropped jaws around Europe when it was published there last year * Mashable *A juicier story would be hard to find -- The WeekDelightfully nuts, in a 'Gravity's Rainbow' kind of way. -- The New YorkerTransforming meticulous research into compelling prose, Ohler delves into the little-known history of drug use in Nazi Germany * Entertainment Weekly *[A] fascinating, engrossing, often dark history of drug use in the Third Reich * The Washington Post *This heavily researched nonfiction book by a German journalist reports that the drug was widely taken by soldiers, all the way up the ranks to Hitler himself, who received injections of a drug cocktail that also included an opioid * Newsday *

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Book Synopsis16 MILLION COPIES SOLD'A book to read, to cherish, to debate, and one that will ultimately keep the memories of the victims alive' John Boyne, author of The Boy in the Striped PyjamasA prominent Viennese psychiatrist before the war, Viktor Frankl was uniquely able to observe the way that both he and others in Auschwitz coped (or didn't) with the experience. He noticed that it was the men who comforted others and who gave away their last piece of bread who survived the longest - and who offered proof that everything can be taken away from us except the ability to choose our attitude in any given set of circumstances. The sort of person the concentration camp prisoner became was the result of an inner decision and not of camp influences alone. Frankl came to believe man's deepest desire is to search for meaning and purpose. This outstanding work offers us all a way to transcend suffering and find significance in the art of living.Trade ReviewRemarkable...It changed my life and became a part of all that I live and all that I teach.An enduring work of survival literature. * New York Times *A book to read, to cherish, to debate, and one that will ultimately keep the memories of the victims alive -- John Boyne, author of The Boy in the Striped PyjamasI have loved this book for so many years, and I think every human being should read it. -- Simon SinekViktor Frankl...one of the moral heroes of the 20th century. His insights into human freedom, dignity and the search for meaning are deeply humanizing, and have the power to transform lives. His works are essential reading for those who seek to understand the human condition.

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Book Synopsis''Brilliant and disturbing'' Stephen Spender, New York Review of BooksThe classic work on ''the banality of evil'', and a journalistic masterpieceHannah Arendt''s stunning and unnverving report on the trial of Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann first appeared as a series of articles in the New Yorker in 1963. This edition includes material that came to light after the trial, as well as Arendt''s postscript directly addressing the controversy that arose over her account. A major journalistic triumph by an intellectual of singular influence, this classic portrayal of the banality of evil is as shocking as it is informative - an unflinching look at one of the most unsettling issues of the twentieth century.''Deals with the greatest problem of our time ... the problem of the human being within a modern totalitarian system'' Bruno BettelheimTrade ReviewA touchstone in the 20th century's thinking about morality and politics * The New York Times *Quite astonishing . . . her indictment of Eichmann reached beyond the man to the historical world in which true thinking was vanishing -- Judith ButlerDeals with the greatest problem of our time . . . the problem of the human being within a modern totalitarian system * The New Republic *

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Book SynopsisA prominent Viennese psychiatrist before the war, Viktor Frankl was uniquely able to observe the way that both he and others in Auschwitz coped (or didn't) with the experience. He noticed that it was the men who comforted others and who gave away their last piece of bread who survived the longest - and who offered proof that everything can be taken away from us except the ability to choose our attitude in any given set of circumstances. The sort of person the concentration camp prisoner became was the result of an inner decision and not of camp influences alone. Only those who allowed their inner hold on their moral and spiritual selves to subside eventually fell victim to the camp's degenerating influence - while those who made a victory of those experiences turned them into an inner triumph. Frankl came to believe man's deepest desire is to search for meaning and purpose. This outstanding work offers us all a way to transcend suffering and find significance in the art of living.Trade ReviewAn enduring work of survival literature * New York Times *If you read but one book this year, Dr Frankl's book should be that one. * Los Angeles Times *His works are essential reading for those who seek to understand the human condition. * Chief Rabbi Dr Jonathan Sacks *A poignant testimony...a hymn to the phoenix rising in each of us who choose life before flight. * Brian Keenan, author of An Evil Cradling *One of the most remarkable books I have ever read. It changed my life * Susan Jeffers, author of Feel the Fear And Do It Anyway and Embracing Uncertainty *

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Book Synopsis** THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER **''Extraordinary'' DOMINIC SANDBROOK, SUNDAY TIMES An epic thriller . . . droll, moving, with a cinematic eye and not a boring line in it'' OBSERVER Fascinating . . . gripping'' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH ''Excellent . . . a fresh, unexpected take on the liberation of Paris'' JULIAN JACKSON, author of France on TrialFrom the Sunday Times-bestselling Patrick Bishop comes a heart-stopping countdown narrative recreating the liberation of Paris in 1944, one of the great and most dramatic hinge moments of WW2.When the Germans marched in and the lamps went out in the City of Light the millions who loved Paris mourned. Liberation, four years later, triggered an explosion of joy and relief. It was the party of the century and everybody who was anybody was there. General Charles de Gaulle seized the moment to create an instant legend that would take its place alongside the great moments in French history. After years of oppression and humiliation Parisians had risen to reclaim their city and drive out the forces of darkness or so the story went.This fresh new account of the liberation, packed with revelation, tells the story of those heady days of suspense, danger, exhilaration and vengeance through the eyes of a range of participants, reflecting all sides of the conflict: Americans, French and Germans; resisters and collaborators. Among them are famous names like Ernest Hemingway, J.D. Salinger and Pablo Picasso, but also some fascinating unknowns including a medic turned Resistance gunwoman, an androgynous Hungarian sculptor and a French bluestocking who quietly set about saving the nation's art treasures from the Nazi looters.Paris '44 looks behind the mythology to tell the real story of the liberation and expose the conflicts and contradictions of France under the occupation the shame as well as the glory. This gripping war-time narrative will enthral anyone who has a place for Paris in their hearts.

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Book SynopsisAs gripping as any spy thriller, Hastings's achievement is especially impressive, for he has produced the best single volume yet written on the subject' Sunday TimesAuthoritative, exciting and notably well written' Daily TelegraphA serious work of rigourous and comprehensive history royally entertaining and readable' Mail on SundayIn The Secret War, Max Hastings presents a worldwide cast of characters and extraordinary sagas of intelligence and Resistance to create a new perspective on the greatest conflict in history. The book links tales of high courage ashore, at sea and in the air to the work of the brilliant boffins' battling the enemy's technology. Here are not only the unheralded codebreaking geniuses of Bletchley Park, but also their German counterparts who achieved their own triumphs and the fabulous espionage networks created, and so often spurned, by the Soviet Union. With its stories of high policy and human drama, the book has been acclaimed as the best history of the secTrade Review‘As gripping as any spy thriller. Hastings understands, better than any previous historian, that this is as much a story about human nature as it is about the mechanics of code-breaking or spycraft … he has the novelist’s eye for the telling detail … this book works because Hastings is simply a very fine writer who is not afraid of making judgements … Hastings’s achievement is especially impressive, for he has produced the best single volume yet written on the subject’ Lawrence Rees, Sunday Times ‘A total thriller with a full cast of killers, swashbucklers and beautiful adventuresses. The best history of war intelligence yet’ Simon Sebag Montefiore ‘This is his war and he writes with an easy assurance, scatter-gunning opinions … Hastings is on form. He has set out to provide thought and discussion and, with his familiar robustness, shotgun at side, he has succeeded’ The Times ‘Authoritative, exciting and notably well written’ Daily Telegraph ‘A serious work of rigorous and comprehensive history … royally entertaining and readable’ Mail on Sunday ‘Vintage Hastings: a vivid cast of characters, social observation and opinions forcefully expressed … Given the national fixation with spies and special forces, Hastings’s book is a very necessary corrective’ Evening Standard ‘Lively and entertaining … a rich gallery of rogues, eccentrics and brainstorming professors which … Hastings can manipulate with wonderful deftness’ Observer ‘A compendious, crisply argued and witty assessment’ Financial Times ‘[Hastings] writes with infectious relish … a magnificent parade of crooks, alcoholics and fantasists … [he] has drawn fascinating fresh material … A book that pulses along, yet is filled with acute insight into human ingenuity, frailty, and the ironies of evil’ Spectator ‘Magisterial … an author at the top of his game’ Country Life ‘Hastings deploys a formidable arsenal to tell his human stories, plus a refreshing degree of scepticism’ Daily Telegraph

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Book SynopsisTHE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLERTHE BOOK BEHIND THE HIT BBC SERIES SAS: ROGUE HEROES, STARRING CONNOR SWINDELLS, JACK O''CONNELL, ALFIE ALLEN AND DOMINIC WESTFrom the secret SAS archives and bestselling author Ben Macintyre: The first ever authorized history of the SAS.''A master at setting the pulse racing'' Daily Mail________________In the summer of 1941, at the height of the war in the Western Desert, a bored and eccentric young officer, David Stirling, has a vision for a new kind of war: attacking the enemy where they least expect it - from behind their own lines.Despite the intense opposition of many in British High Command, Winston Churchill personally gives Stirling permission to recruit the toughest, brightest and most ruthless soldiers he can find. And so begins the most celebrated and mysterious military organisation in the world: the SAS.With unprecedented access to the SAS secret files, unseen footage and exclusive interviews with its founder members, SAS: Rogue Heroes tells the remarkable story behind an extraordinary fighting force, and the immense cost of making it a reality.________________''Thorough and highly entertaining. It would be nigh on impossible to praise it too highly'' Daily Express''Impeccably researched, superbly told - by far the best book on the SAS in World War II'' Antony Beevor''Told with deceptive brilliance . . . one the finest books of its kind'' Evening StandardSunday Times bestseller, April 2017Trade ReviewThis book has many strengths but perhaps its greatest is how thought-provoking it is -- Laurence Rees * Sunday Times *Macintyre provides a riveting history of a revolutionary fighting force . . . A ripping good read * Washington Post 10 Best Books of 2016 *The sharp style and sly wit reveal some pretty acute insights into the politics of the nation's favourite undercover boys * Evening Standard Books of the Year *So good and so much more than the boys own adventure you might think it will read like. Ben is a brilliant writer * Dermot O'Leary *

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Book SynopsisJames Holland (Author) James Holland is an internationally acclaimed and award-winning historian, writer, and broadcaster. The author of a number of best-selling histories including most recently Brothers In Arms and Normandy '44, he is also the author of ten works of fiction and a dozen Ladybird Experts.He is the co-founder of the annual Chalke Valley History Festival which is now in its twelfth year, and he has presented - and written - many television programmes and series for the BBC, Channel 4, National Geographic and the History and Discovery channels.With Al Murray, he has a successful Second World War podcast, We Have Ways of Making You Talk, which also has its own festival, and is a research fellow at St Andrew's University and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He can be found on Twitter as @James1940 and on Instagram as @jamesholland1940.Al Murray (Author) Al Murray's alter ego, The Pub Landlord, is

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Book SynopsisWilliam L. Shirer ranks as one of the greatest of all American foreign correspondents. He lived and worked in Paris, Belin, Vienna, and Rome. But it was above all as correspondent in Germany for the Chicago Tribune and later for the Columbia Broadcasting System in the late 1930s that his reputation was established. He subsequently wrote The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, which is hailed as a classic, and after World War Two he was awarded the Legion d'Honneur. In the post-war years he wrote in a variety of fields, and in his seventies he learned Russian, publishing a biography of Tolstoy at the age of 89. He died in 1994. His Berlin broadcasts were published posthumously by Hutchinson in 1999.Trade ReviewThe standard work by which all others on the subject are still measured . . . Erudite, comprehensive and detailed, always lively and readable, it is the model of what a popular narrative history should be. * Guardian *One of the most important works of history of our time. * New York Times *In this political season, William L. Shirer’s mammoth history of Hitler’s Germany seems a useful guide to how a skilled demagogue can seize and destroy a great nation. * Chicago Tribune *A splendid work of scholarship, objective in method, sound in judgment, inescapable in its conclusions. * New York Times Book Review *A work which everyone should read. -- Hugh Trevor-Roper

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Book SynopsisImagine that you are deep behind enemy lines. Your plane was shot down or perhaps you have just escaped from a prisoner of war camp. The enemy is hunting you, seeking to throw you behind barbed wire for the duration of the war. What will you do? Do you have a plan, and the skills, to make it to friendly territory?During World War II, the Germans and Japanese held over 306,000 British and 105,000 U.S. service members as prisoners. The number of successful evaders and escapers, both U.S. and British, exceeded 35,000. Many of these were aircrew, who received intense training because of the high risk that they would have to evade or escape. This book relates how they fared in enemy hands or managed to remain free.This book provides a complete overview of U.S. and British escape and evasion during World War II. It tells the story of the escape and evasion organisations, the Resistance-operated lines, and the dangers faced by the escapers and the evaders in a logical and compelling narrative. Heroism, betrayal, sacrifice, and cowardice are all elements of this fascinating part of the rich tapestry of World War II.Trade ReviewSimkin has produced a fine, workman-like examination of all aspects of enlivened by colorful evasion or rescue stories gleaned from veterans’ reminiscences. * Journal of America's Military Past *This very readable account covers a lot of different subjects within it's 200 pages. … [T]his is an excellent book for someone starting out on the subject. * History Book Chat 30/11/2022 *Table of ContentsChapter 1 - Introduction Chapter 2 – Allied Escape Organizations Chapter 3 – Essentials and Escape Devices Chapter 4 – POW Camp Organization Chapter 5 – German POW Camps Chapter 6 – Japanese POW Camps Chapter 7 – The Comet Line Chapter 8 – The Rome Escape Line Chapter 9 – The Shelburne Line Chapter 10 – The Indragiri River Line Chapter 11 – China Escape Lines Chapter 12 – Colditz to England – Small Group Assisted Chapter 13 – Corregidor to the U.S.A. – Single Unassisted Chapter 14 – Singapore to Australia – Mass Escapes/Evasions Assisted Chapter 15 – Corregidor to Australia – Mass Escapes/Evasions Unassisted Chapter 16 – Liberation! Chapter 17 – Conclusion

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Book SynopsisBorn into a Jewish ghetto in Hungary, as a child, Elie Wiesel was sent to the Nazi concentration camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald. This is his account of that atrocity: the ever-increasing horrors he endured, the loss of his family and his struggle to survive in a world that stripped him of humanity, dignity and faith. Describing in simple terms the tragic murder of a people from a survivor's perspective, Night is among the most personal, intimate and poignant of all accounts of the Holocaust. A compelling consideration of the darkest side of human nature and the enduring power of hope, it remains one of the most important works of the twentieth century.Trade ReviewA slim volume of terrifying power * The New York Times *Through his eyes, we witness the depths of both human cruelty and human grace—and we're left grappling with what remains of Elie, a teenage boy caught between the two. I gain courage from his courage * Oprah Winfrey *Through his eyes, we witness the depths of both human cruelty and human grace—and we're left grappling with what remains of Elie, a teenage boy caught between the two. I gain courage from his courage * Oprah Winfrey *

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Book Synopsis'A compelling, beautifully written story of resilience, friendship and survival.' Heather Morris, author of The Tattooist of AuschwitzThe thrilling story of how nine young women, captured by the Nazis for being part of the Resistance, launched a breathtakingly bold escape and found their way home.As the Second World War raged across Europe, and the Nazi regime tightened its reign of horror and oppression, nine women, some still in their teens, joined the French and Dutch Resistance. Caught out in heroic acts against the brutal occupiers, they were each tortured and sent east into Greater Germany to a concentration camp, where they formed a powerful friendship. In 1945, as the war turned against Hitler, they were forced on a Death March, facing starvation and almost certain death. Determined to survive, they made a bid for freedom, and so began one of the most breathtaking tales of escape and resilience of the Second World War. The author is the great-niece of one of the nine, and she interweaves their gripping flight across war-torn Europe with her own detective work, uncovering the heart-stopping escape and survival of these heroes who fought fearlessly against Nazi Germany and lived to tell the tale.---------'A truly extraordinary tale, beautifully written, one that chills and excites, [A] work of rare passion, power and principle' Philippe Sands, author of East-West Street and The Ratline'Utterly gripping' Anna Sebba author of Les Parisiennes'The Nine is poignant, powerful, and shattering, distilling the horror of the Holocaust through the lens of nine unforgettable women...' Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Rose Code and The Alice NetworkTrade ReviewA compelling, beautifully written story of resilience, friendship and survival. The story of Women's resistance during World War II needs to be told and The Nine accomplishes this in spades. -- Heather Morris * Author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz *The Nine is a triumph of the imagination... Strauss read memoirs and toured Europe in search of relatives to give the women literary immortality... It is an ingeniously constructed book... -- Christina Hardyment * The Times *This haunting account provides yet more evidence not only of the power of female friendship but that the often unrecorded courage and resilience of ordinary women must be honoured and celebrated. It's a most inspiring read, occasionally the horrific ordeal seems unbearable but then there's a moment of laughter. Utterly gripping. -- Anna Sebba * author of Les Parisiennes *The Nine is poignant, powerful, and shattering, distilling the horror of the Holocaust through the lens of nine unforgettable women. Banding together in the hellscape of Ravensbruck, the nine resistance fighters turned prisoners make a desperate bid for escape in the chaos of the war's end, embarking across battle-ravaged Germany toward home. Gwen Strauss melds a poet's pen and a decade of research into a tale of friendship, courage, and indomitable will. -- Kate Quinn * New York Times bestselling author of The Rose Code and The Alice Network *I love this book. It delivers beauty, grace, horror, and suspense-an important work that also happens to be a hell of a read! -- Anthony Swofford * author of Jarhead *At this moment of worldwide chaos and despair, this is a book that reminds us about what is important, and about finding strength and purpose during the worst of times. Highly recommended. -- Goldie Goldbloom * author of Paperbark Shoe and On Division *It's high time we got our Band of Sisters, and there could be no better author to tell their story than the riveting and rigorous Strauss. Equal parts exhilarating, devastating, and inspiring. -- Lauren Sandler * author of This is All I Got *Strauss, niece of one of the nine heroines and third-generation 'Witness of the Witnesses', answers questions and challenges with great finesse. In a writing of rare historical accuracy and deep empathy, a woman of today tells the stories of yesterday. -- Agnès Triebel * Secretary General of the International Buchenwald-Dora Committee *With Gwen Strauss' book and the scope of her research, that whole unknown period came to me as a gift from heaven... The precision of the speech, the delicacy of the style, the joys and misfortunes brought tears that I was happy to shed. -- Marc Spijker * son of Guigui, one of the nine *'A paean to female bravery and live-saving friendship.' * The i *

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Book SynopsisYOU THINK YOU KNOW ABOUT WWII?Did you ever actually listen to somebody who was there?THE 3 BOOK OMNIBUS EDITION, in one 822-page binding, The Things Our Fathers Saw--The Untold Stories of the World War II Generation From Hometown, USA: VOLUMES 1-3 ...TOLD IN THEIR OWN WORDS...~From the award-winning author of the 'The Things Our Fathers Saw' World War II eyewitness history series~ 800 PAGES, including:*Volume I: Voices of the Pacific Theater-The telephone rings on the hospital floor, and they tell you it is your mother, the phone call you have been dreading. You’ve lost part of your face to a Japanese sniper on Okinawa, and after many surgeries, the doctor has finally told you that at 19, you will never see again. The pain and shock is one thing. But now you have to tell her, from 5000 miles away.*Volume II: War in the Air--From the Great Depression to Combat-HOW DO YOU THINK YOU FEEL when you wake up in a hospital and find out you killed your own mother?JUST WHAT DO YOU DO in that moment when your plane’s been hit, and you are about to crash far from home?*Volume III: War in the Air--Combat, Captivity, and Reunion-WHAT DO YOU FILL YOUR POCKETS WITH when you’re rousted awake in the middle of a freezing German night to be death-marched across Germany?WHEN YOUR BUDDY STAGGERS AND FALLS by the side of the road, and no longer even knows who you are, do you keep moving to keep yourself alive?By the end of 2020, fewer than 400,000 of our WW II veterans will still be with us, out of the over 16 million who put on a uniform. But why is it that today, nobody seems to know these stories?Maybe our veterans did not volunteer to tell us; maybe we were too busy with our own lives to ask.'For all of us to be free, a few of us must be brave, and that is the history of America'. Read how a generation of young Americans saved the world.Because dying for freedom isn't the worst that could happen. Being forgotten is.— “A must-read in every high school in America. It is a very poignant look back at our greatest generation; maybe it will inspire the next one.”Reviewer, Vol. I

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Book SynopsisIn the summer of 1942 one of the main issues in the balance was the fate of Malta. The island was still a bastion of the Royal Navy in the Mediterranean and a constant threat to the supply route for the enemy land forces in North Africa. It bravely resisted every onslaught of the Axis powers, but by the middle of 1942, food supplies were desperately short and fuel oil was running low. In August of that year Operation Pedestal was launched, a last attempt to relieve Malta. Fourteen merchant ships were allocated to it and the Royal Navy provided the most powerful force ever to escort a convoy including four aircraft carriers. Operating from bases in Sardinia and Sicily, the Germans and Italians let fly with their shore-based aircraft on an unprecedented scale. The losses on the British side were sever with more than 500 Merchant and Royal Navy sailors and airmen killed. Whilst only five of the fourteen merchant ships reached the sanctuary of Malta''s Grand Harbour, these included the oi

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Book SynopsisWitness the best and the worst of humanity in The Bells of Nagasaki. . . On 9th August 1945, the Japanese city of Nagasaki is hit by an atomic bomb. Forty thousand people are killed instantly. Doctor Takashi Nagai is not one of them. Pulling himself, broken and bloodied, from the wreckage that was once the city's university hospital, Takashi bundles together a tattered group of survivors. Doctors, nurses, students, each with their own injuries and losses, their own bone-chilling fears for the future, they work tirelessly at the impossible task of aiding the countless wounded and easing the deaths of the dying. They remain determined to heal their fallen city, to find solace and hope among the rubble, even as a strange and growing sickness begins to claim them, one by one. Eyewitness to one of the most fatal events in human history, this is Takashi's record, written from his sickbed a chilling historical document, and undeniable evidence of the capacity for human kindness. A book that everyone should read' The Times

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Book SynopsisThe first full biography of one of the Second World War’s most enigmatic secret agents

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewGripping ... Huber tells the shocking stories of ordinary German suicides with literary power and skill, making excellent use of unknown material. -- Richard Evans * The Guardian *All eyes will be opened by the facts on offer in Promise Me You'll Shoot Yourself ... Huber follows a cast of real, all-too-human characters as they head into darkness. ... His terrible evidence is priceless, and belongs on every bookshelf. -- James Hawes * The Spectator *Huber retells the self-annihilation of May 1945 in dispassionate, vivid detail ... It's hard not to hear faint echoes in our current plight. -- Andrew Anthony * The Observer *A remarkable book - grim and fascinating. Florian Huber tells the story well. -- Robbie Millen * The Times *An under-represented history that is equal parts terrifying and tragic ... Amid the nearly unbearable darkness, Huber injects notes of hope ... Illuminating yet haunting. -- Ruta Sepetys * Financial Times *Huber tells this terrible history with compassion and care. He writes with an ease that makes the book flow smoothly despite the bleak nature of the subject, aided by a fine translation from the German by Imogen Taylor. -- Laurence Rees * The Telegraph *A harrowing insight into the psyche of everyday German citizens ... Huber's book is extremely well researched ... By drawing on the thoughts, movements and mental state of the diarists, he is able to provide a compelling insight into the minds of everyday Nazi citizens. -- Jacob Farr * The Scotsman *A grimly compelling study of the psychology of fanaticism ... The book hints at a deep truth about war at its dirtiest. * The Economist *Bleak, arresting ... A sobering study of a dark period of Europe's history. -- Matt Elton and Ellie Cawthorne * BBC History Magazine *

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Book Synopsis‘The best biography I’ve read recently’ – Colin Bateman, Sunday Independent An excellent examination of Mayne… Ross corrects many of the myths about him that have flourished over the years - History of War magazine ‘This welcome reassessment, officially backed and well-researched, sets the record straight’ – Soldier Magazine‘Paddy’ Mayne was one of the most outstanding special forces leaders of the Second World War. Hamish Ross’s authoritative study follows Mayne from solicitor and rugby international to troop commander in the Commandos and then the SAS, whose leader he later became and whose annals he graced, winning the DSO and three bars, the Croix de Guerre and the Légion d’Honneur.Mayne’s achievements attracted attention, and after his early death legends emerged, based largely on anecdote and assertion. Hamish Ross’s closely researched biography challenges much of the received version, using contemporary sources, the official war diaries, the chronicle of 1 SAS, Mayne’s papers and diaries, and a number of extended interviews with key contemporaries.Ross’s analysis shows Mayne to be a dynamic, yet principled and thoughtful man, committed to the unit’s original concepts. He was far from flawless, but his leadership and tactical brilliance in the field secured the reputation of the SAS, proving he was every bit a rogue hero.Trade ReviewThe best biography I’ve read recently -- Colin BatemanThis welcome reassessment, officially backed and well-researched, sets the record straightAn excellent examination of Mayne… Ross corrects many of the myths about him that have flourished over the years.” * History of War magazine *

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Book Synopsis'Richly entertaining... impressively well-researched' Daily Mail, Biography of the YearThe Sunday Times bestselling biography of the glamorous couple behind the modern royal family, the aunt and uncle of Prince Philip.DICKIE MOUNTBATTEN: A major figure behind his nephew Philip's marriage to Queen Elizabeth II and instrumental in the Royal Family taking the Mountbatten name, he was Supreme Allied Commander of South East Asia during World War II and the last Viceroy of India.EDWINA MOUNTBATTEN: Once the richest woman in Britain and a playgirl who enjoyed numerous affairs, she emerged from World War II as a magnetic and talented humanitarian worker loved around the­ world.From British high society to the South of France, from the battlefields of Burma to the Viceroy's House, The Mountbattens is a rich and filmic story of a powerful partnership, revealing the truth behind a carefully curated legend.Was Mountbatten one of the outstanding leaders of his generation, or a man over-promoted because of his royal birth, high-level connections, film-star looks and ruthless self-promotion? What is the true story behind controversies such as the Dieppe Raid and Indian Partition, the love affair between Edwina and Nehru, and Mountbatten's assassination in 1979?Based on over 100 interviews, research from dozens of archives and new information released under Freedom of Information requests, prize-winning historian Andrew Lownie sheds new light on­ this remarkable couple.'Painstakingly researched... genuinely enthralling' Observer'A page-turner which is also a carefully researched work of history' Spectator'A compelling new biography...superbly researched' Daily Express'Incisive... strongly recommend' The TimesTrade ReviewOne of the few joys of lockdown for me. Lownie is an unusual biographer in that he is at once a great investigative journalist, but also a fine writer. * Tim Walker, journalist and broadcaster *Richly entertaining... impressively well-researched * Daily Mail, Biography of the Year *Incisive... strongly recommend * The Times *A study in aggressive social climbing [with] quick-moving fluency * Sunday Times *Painstakingly researched... genuinely enthralling * Observer *A page-turner which is also a carefully researched work of history * Spectator *A compelling new biography...superbly researched * Daily Express *Everything a top-notch biography should be * Budapest Times *Well-researched, enjoyable, revealing * The Oldie *By dint of prodigious research, Lownie has stripped away the accretions of fable and fiction to give us an unvarnished double portrait. It is vivid, well balanced and often sympathetic * Literary Review *A well-balanced portrait of flawed individuals... The book promises scandal and does not disappoint. Lownie's book dares to go where no other Mountbatten biography has gone before. An explosive account that looks behind the façade of a celebrated couple * The Lady, 5 stars *Wherever a reader turns in this magnificent book there are new ideas to consider. Lownie's writing fits the complex nature of his subject yet is always completely unambiguous. I loved this book. * Queensland Reviewers Collective *A fine blend of political, military, and personal history. * Hindustani Times *A complex story beautifully written which never felt less like a history lesson, but I learned so much by the end. A triumph of storytelling. -- Anne SebbaA timely debunking of the golden Mountbatten myth. Meticulously researched and beautifully written, Lownie's portrait of a deeply flawed man and his extraordinary marriage is an irresistible read. -- Robert BeaumontContains many fresh social and political insights into an important subject, revealed in a gripping and detailed narrative. -- Richard Thorpe, biographer of Anthony Eden and Harold MacmillanAn entertaining, knowledgeable account of the extraordinary official, sexual and social lives of royal relative, Earl Mountbatten, and his multi-millionairess wife, Lady Edwina. -- Sarah Bradford, Royal biographer'Lownie's account of things is a mixture of inevitably indulgent gossip, descriptions of lavish parties, yachts and mansions, while also evaluating Mountbatten's chequered military career and Edwina's humanitarian work. One for royal watchers.' -- Sydney Morning Herald"This glittering biography delves into the scandal-filled and history-making partnership of Lord Louis 'Dickie' Mountbatten and his wife Edwina, an heiress turned humanitarian who charmed the world." -- PeopleWherever a reader turns in this magnificent book there are new ideas to consider. Lownie's writing fits the complex nature of his subject yet is always completely unambiguous. I loved this book. * Queensland Reviewers Collective *Acute observations, careful analysis and skilful articulation * Royal History Geeks *"A juicy dual biography. Readers will be astounded by the intrigues and accomplishments of this remarkable couple." -- Publishers WeeklyWell-written and reads very easily....a valuable warts and all portrait of a couple who were centre stage in British public life for some sixty years. Recommended * The Naval Review *A brilliant book! Here's 'Uncle Dickie' as he's never been revealed before * Robert Lacey *An audacious, myth-busting book by a master biographer (determined to get to the truth). * Rhiannon Jenkins Tsang, author The Last Vicereine *A remarkable and definitive portrait -- Frederick Forsyth on Stalin's EnglishmanShrewd, thorough, revelatory * William Boyd on Stalin's Englishmen *[Lownie] manages to convey the charm as well as the turpitude * Craig Brown on Stalin's Englishmen *Exhaustively researched and absorbing book * New Statesman on Stalin's Englishman *A meticulously researched biography...an astonishing piece of research -- Sunday Times on Stalin's EnglishmenLownie certainly knows what makes a good book, and in Stalin's Englishman he has delivered one of his own - many times over * Independent on Stalin's Englishmen *A magnificent biography... a narrative as gripping as a thriller * Daily Express on Stalin's Englishmen *Scrupulous and comprehensive * The Week on Stalin's Englishmen *Everything a top-notch biography should be * Budapest Times *"A well-researched deep-dive into the lives of Dickie and Edwina Mountbatten, a couple who witnessed much of the 20th Century's history - including Royal landmarks - at first hand" * Grazia *'"The Mountbattens" is most compelling as a strangely sweet tale of open marriage.' * New York Times Book of the Year *"full of detail and insight and is written in a clear, unshowy style." * The Lady *

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Book SynopsisIn Fighting Churchill, Appeasing Hitler Adrian Phillips presents a radical new view of the British policy of appeasement in the late 1930s. No one doubts that appeasement failed, but Phillips shows that it caused active harm - even sabotaging Britain's preparations for war. He goes far further than previous historians in identifying the individuals responsible for a catalogue of miscalculations, deviousness and moral surrender that made the Second World War inevitable, and highlights the alternative policies that might have prevented it. Phillips outlines how Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and his chief advisor, Sir Horace Wilson, formed a fatally inept two-man foreign-policy machine that was immune to any objective examination, criticism or assessment - ruthlessly manipulating the media to support appeasement while batting aside policies advocated by Winston Churchill, the most vocal opponent of appeasement. Churchill understood that Hitler was the implacable enemy of peace - and Britain - but Chamberlain and Wilson were terrified that any display of firmness would provoke him. For the first time, Phillips brings to light how Wilson and Churchill had been enemies since an incident early in their careers, and how, eventually, opposing Churchill became an end in itself. Featuring new revelations about the personalities involved and the shameful manipulations and betrayals that went into appeasement, including an attempt to buy Hitler off with a ruthless colonialist deal in Africa, Fighting Churchill, Appeasing Hitler shines a compelling and original light on one of the darkest hours in British diplomatic history.Trade Review"This fascinating study is a model of historical sleuthing. Vigorously researched, it should appeal widely to history buffs." - Library Journal "Phillips deepens the common understanding of such well-known events as Chamberlain's September 1938 Munich visit by focusing on the role played by Sir Horace Wilson, a senior civil servant with no foreign policy background who served as the prime minister's aide and confidante."- Publisher's Weekly

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Book SynopsisThis extraordinary book tells the story of a remarkable family caught in Japan at the outbreak of the Second World War in the Pacific. With letters, journal extracts and notes from Hamish Brown’s parents, as well as his own recollections, it brings the era to life: not only life in the dying days of the British Empire, but also the terrible reality of the invasion of Singapore into which they escaped.Trade Review`An insight into history before it became history.’-Michael Pye;` Hamish Brown is a legendary figure.’-Alistair Moffat

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Book SynopsisIn June 1941 the Ark Royal won one of Britain''s most famous naval victories. The German destroyer, Bismarck, had been ravaging the British fleet in the Atlantic. Sailing through a ferocious storm the Ark Royal tracked the Bismarck. A dozen swordfish bombers took off from her deck and pounded shell after shell into the German battleship, sending her to the ocean floor. It was a signal victory that resonated around the world. Hitler, furious at the loss of the German fleet''s flagship, demanded that the Ark Royal be destroyed at whatever cost.HMS Ark Royal is one of the Royal Navy''s most iconic ships. When she was launched in 1938 she was one of the most sophisticated weapons at the disposal of British military command. The aircraft carrier was the latest, and soon to be one of the most feared, developments in naval warfare. In her first two years of operation the Ark Royal survived countless attacks, and was considered one of

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Book Synopsis'This is a devastating book. It is matter-of-fact, makes no attempt to score political points, does not attempt to solicit sympathy for its protagonist and yet is among the most chilling indictments of war I have ever read. Everybody, in particular every woman ought to read it' ARUNDHATI ROY 'One of the most important personal accounts ever written about the effects of war and defeat' ANTONY BEEVOR Between April 20th and June 22nd 1945 the anonymous author of A Woman in Berlin wrote about life within the falling city as it was sacked by the Russian Army. Fending off the boredom and deprivation of hiding, the author records her experiences, observations and meditations in this stark and vivid diary. Accounts of the bombing, the rapes, the rationing of food and the overwhelming terror of death are rendered in the dispassionate, though determinedly optimistic prose of a woman fighting for survival amidst the horror and inhumanity of war. This diary was first published in America in 1954 in an English translation and in Britain in 1955. A German language edition was published five years later in Geneva and was met with tremendous controversy. In 2003, over forty years later, it was republished in Germany to critical acclaim - and more controversy. This diary has been unavailable since the 1960s and this is a new English translation. A Woman in Berlin is an astonishing and deeply affecting account.Trade ReviewThis is a devastating book. It is matter-of-fact, makes no attempt to score political points, does not attempt to solicit sympathy for its protagonist and yet is among the most chilling indictments of war I have ever read. Everybody, in particular every woman ought to read it -- Arundhati RoyOne of the most important personal accounts ever written about the effects of war and defeat -- Antony BeevorThis is not an hysterical woman ... you simply cannot dismiss it ... profoundly, acutely embarrassing ... an insight into the resilience of people in an unknowable situation -- Robert SandhillComplex, closely observed diary by a woman living in conquered Berlin at the end of WWII * Kirkus Reviews *Let Anonymous stand witness as she wished to: as an undistorted voice for all women in war and its aftermath, whatever their names or nation or ethnicity. Anywhere * Los Angeles Times *An astonishing record of survival . . . the voice of Anonymous emerges as both shrewd and funny . . . a fresh contribution to the literature of war * Entertainment Weekly *A stunning account of a German woman's battle to survive repeated rape at the hands of the victors among the ruins of Berlin . . . While leaders plot their dreams of glory and victory, the lives of ordinary people--on all sides--are trampled and destroyed. A most salutary work -- David Hare * Guardian *The author has a fierce, uncompromising voice, and her book should become a classic of war literature * Publishers Weekly *Marvelous . . . As it is a human instinct to survive, this book, which could have been horrifying, is instead exhilarating: a rare tribute to the human spirit * Daily Mail *Coolly written, tearingly honest . . . This is a classic not only of war literature but also of writing at the very extreme of human suffering * Daily Telegraph *This is a devastating book. It is matter-of-fact, makes no attempt to score political points, does not attempt to solicit sympathy for its protagonist and yet is among the most chilling indictments of war I have ever read. Everybody, in particular every woman ought to read it. * Arundhati Roy, author of The Good of Small Things *Complex, closely observed diary by a woman living in conquered Berlin at the end of WWII. * Kirkus Reviews *Let Anonymous stand witness as she wished to: as an undistorted voice for all women in war and its aftermath, whatever their names or nation or ethnicity. Anywhere. * Los Angeles Times *An astonishing record of survival . . . the voice of Anonymous emerges as both shrewd and funny . . . a fresh contribution to the literature of war. * Entertainment Weekly *A riveting account of a military atrocity . . . The author doesn't try to explain or moralize the horror. She simply records it as perhaps no one else has, in all of its devastating essence. * The New York Observer *A stunning account of a German woman's battle to survive repeated rape at the hands of the victors among the ruins of Berlin . . . While leaders plot their dreams of glory and victory, the lives of ordinary people--on all sides--are trampled and destroyed. A most salutary work. -- David Hare * The Guardian *The author has a fierce, uncompromising voice, and her book should become a classic of war literature. * Publishers Weekly *Marvelous . . . As it is a human instinct to survive, this book, which could have been horrifying, is instead exhilarating: a rare tribute to the human spirit. * Daily Mail *Coolly written, tearingly honest . . . This is a classic not only of war literature but also of writing at the very extreme of human suffering. * The Daily Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisWinner of the Duke of Westminster Medal for Military Literature Different countries give different opening dates for the period of the Second World War, but perhaps the most compelling is 1937, when the ''Marco Polo Bridge Incident'' plunged China and Japan into a conflict of extraordinary duration and ferocity - a war which would result in many millions of deaths and completely reshape East Asia in ways which we continue to confront today. With great vividness and narrative drive Rana Mitter''s book draws on a huge range of new sources to recreate this terrible conflict. He writes both about the major leaders (Chiang Kaishek, Mao Zedong and Wang Jingwei) and about the ordinary people swept up by terrible times. Mitter puts at the heart of our understanding of the Second World War that it was Japan''s failure to defeat China which was the key dynamic for what happened in Asia.Trade ReviewThe best study of China's war with Japan written in any language ... comprehensive, thoroughly based on research, and totally non-partisan. Above all, the book presents a moving account of the Chinese people's incredible suffering ... A must read for anyone interested in the origins of China's contribution to the making of today's world -- Akira IriyeA major contribution to the one aspect of the Second World War of which we know far too little, and should know much more if we are to understand the new superpower today ... a model of clarity and good writing -- Antony Beevor * The Times *[Mitter] restores a vital part of the wartime narrative to its rightful place. Now, for the first time, it is possible to assess the impact of the war on Chinese society and the many factors that explain the Japanese failure in China and the eventual triumph of Mao Zhedong's communists in 1949, from which the superpower has grown. It is a remarkable story, told with humanity and intelligence; all historians of the second world war will be in Mitter's debt ... [he] explores this complex politics with remarkable clarity and economy ... No one could ask for a better guide than Mitter to how [the rise of modern China] began in the cauldron of the Chinese war -- Richard Overy * Guardian *Illuminating and meticulously researched ... [China's War with Japan] is about the Chinese experience of war, the origins of the modern Chinese identity and the roots of a relationship that will shape Asia in the 21st century. It is about China's existential crisis as it tried to regain its centrality in Asia. It is also a story, pure and simple, of heroic resistance against massive odds * Economist *Mitter deftly sketches the plight of Chinese intellectuals ... This is a many-stranded story and the author keeps his focus on the big picture while including many convincing, often horrific, details ... [this] is the best narrative of that long-ago war, whose effects still linger in China today, with Japan the major hate figure -- Jonathan Mirsky * Spectator *This is a story told mainly from the Chinese perspective, in all its horror. Drawing on a wide range of sources, Mitter pulls together a rich and complex narrative without losing the drama of China's fight for survival and the individuals who played a part in it ... lively [and] comprehensive * Prospect *

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Book SynopsisTHE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER SHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE, RATHBONES FOLIO PRIZE, WATERSTONES BOOK OF THE YEAR AND LONGLISTED FOR THE WINGATE LITERARY PRIZEA MAIL ON SUNDAY, THE TIMES, THE ECONOMIST, GUARDIAN, THE SPECTATOR, TIME, AND DAILY EXPRESS/DAILY MIRROR BOOK OF THE YEAR'Thrilling' Daily Mail'Gripping' Guardian'Heartwrenching' Yuval Noah Harari'Magnificent' Philip Pullman'Excellent' Sunday Times'Inspiring' Daily Mail'An immediate classic' Antony Beevor'Awe inspiring' Simon Sebag Montefiore'Shattering' Simon Schama'Utterly compelling' Philippe Sands'A must-read' Emily Maitlis'Indispensable' Howard Jacobson April 1944. Nineteen-year-old Rudolf Vrba and fellow inmate Fred Wetzler became two of the very first Jews to successfully escape Auschwitz. Evading the thousands of SS men hunting them, Vrba and Wetzler made the perilous journey on foot across Nazi-occupied Poland.Their mission: to reveal to the world the truth of the Holocaust.Vrba's unique testimony would save some 200,000 lives.But he kept on running - from his past, from his home country, his adopted country, even from his own name. Now, at last, Rudolf Vrba's heroism can be known.Trade ReviewExcellent . . . thrilling . . . Freedland's book is rich in the kind of details that haunt you long after you have turned the last page -- Sunday TimesA brilliant and heart-wrenching book, with universal and timely lessons about the power of information - and misinformation -- Yuval Noah HarariA magnificent book. I could scarcely breathe at some points. What a tribute to its extraordinary hero, and it's such an important and necessary story to read . . . I can't praise it too highly. What an achievement -- Philip PullmanAn immediate classic of Holocaust literature. Superbly researched and written, it is both a gripping story and deeply moving, I literally could not put it down -- Antony BeevorImmersive, shattering, and, ultimately redemptive book . . . An epic of terror and endurance . . . Written with Freedland's page-turning, gripping, hard-edged immediacy, The Escape Artist is profound in thought, boundless in humanity, an immediate modern classic -- Simon SchamaAwe inspiring, exciting and poignant, this is a thrilling read, a piece of redemptive storytelling and a work of important Holocaust historical research: Freedland has given Rudolf Vrba his rightful place in history - and in the process written a book that I couldn't put down -- Simon Sebag MontefioreThe Escape Artist is marvellous. It is original, meticulous and utterly compelling - and ultimately a deeply tragic tale -- Philippe SandsA must-read stand out piece of history . . . This is Freedland at his finest . . . It is both a celebration of the extraordinary will, courage and resilience of the hero - Rudi Vrba - and an all too prescient warning of how hard it is to wake up the world to things it would prefer not to see -- Emily MaitlisA work of the highest quality about an astonishing man. It is gripping from start to finish, searingly, shocking, revelatory, and deeply moving - the more so because there is no false note, no striving for effect. The research is prodigious and the complexities deftly woven into the narrative . . . A profoundly troubling and important work -- Jonathan DimblebyA masterpiece of page-turning history: an escape story that is also a fearless exploration of some of the most profound questions that face humanity. Rudolf Vrba's extraordinary testimony will deepen your understanding of the Holocaust - and compel you to think afresh about our own times, and the role of truth, denial and fragile memory. Magisterial -- Matthew d'AnconaThe story of Vrba's escape from Auschwitz, exquisitely told by Jonathan Freedland, soars like a thriller. Exhilarating, deeply moving, and historically important -- Simon ParkinPowerful, important, compelling and superbly told. This is a book that needs to be read -- Bart van Es, bestselling author of The Cut Out GirlAn indispensable, unflinching, bone-hard book. Compelling reading -- Howard JacobsonI read it with my heart beating fast, full of horror, rage, despair - and admiration for this potent demonstration of the stubborn resilience of the human spirit -- Tracy ChevalierBrilliant -- Julia NeubergerMeticulously researched . . . shocking but thrilling, and ultimately overwhelmingly inspiring -- Daily MailAstonishing . . . An indispensable part of Holocaust history . . . Gripping -- GuardianAn utterly gripping narrative, incorporating a restrained though harrowing picture of life in Auschwitz and a kind of heroic adventure story -- The ObserverSuch an important piece of history . . . This dramatic, compelling and deeply sensitive account raises issues around courage, agency and the credibility of facts that still resonate today -- 'Books of the Year', The SpectatorThis really is an extraordinary book -- The Times

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Book SynopsisThis is a memoir of flying with the Royal Air Force in war and peace during a career in military and civil aviation covering a half century. The text is filled with personal experiences, reminiscences and impressions and is written in four parts. Part One covers the years leading to the author's graduation and the winning of his RAF Wings. This is followed by action-packed stories of flying propeller-driven fighters, Spitfires and Mustangs, during and just after the Second World War. The author then tells of his unique experiences of front-line fighter operations when he flew jets with the United States Air Force during the Korean War. The final chapter covers the remainder of his RAF Service flying until retirement.

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Book Synopsis The New York Times bestselling account of one of history's most brutal—and forgotten—massacres, when the Japanese army destroyed China's capital city on the eve of World War II, “piecing together the abundant eyewitness reports into an undeniable tapestry of horror” (Adam Hochschild, Salon) In December 1937, one of the most horrific atrocities in the long annals of wartime barbarity occurred. The Japanese army swept into the ancient city of Nanking (what was then the capital of China), and within weeks, more than 300,000 Chinese civilians and soldiers were systematically raped, tortured, and murdered. In this seminal work, Iris Chang, whose own grandparents barely escaped the massacre, tells this history from three perspectives: that of the Japanese soldiers, that of the Chinese, and that of a group of Westerners who refused to abandon the city and created a safety zone, which saved almost 300,000 Chinese. Drawing on extensive interviews with survivors and documents brought to light for the first time, Iris Chang's classic book is the definitive history of this horrifying episode. Trade ReviewChicago Tribune "A powerful new work of history and moral inquiry. Chang takes great care to establish an accurate accounting of the dimensions of the violence." Nien Cheng, author of Life and Death in Shanghai "Meticulously researched ... A gripping account that holds the reader's attention from beginning to end." Beatrice S. Bartlett, professor of history, Yale University "Iris Chang's research on the Nanking holocaust yields a new and expanded telling of this World War II atrocity and reflects thorough research. The book is excellent; its story deserves to be heard." Frederic Wakeman, director of the Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley "Heartbreaking... An utterly compelling book. The descriptions of the atrocities raise fundamental questions not only about imperial Japanese militarism but the psychology of the torturers, rapists, and murderers." George F. Will, syndicated columnist "Something beautiful, an act of justice, is occurring in America today concerning something ugly that happened long ago... Because of Chang's book, the second rape of Nanking is ending." Orville Schell, The New York Times Book Review "In her important new book ... Iris Chang, whose own grandparents were survivors, recounts the grisly massacre with understandable outrage." Ross Terrill, author of Mao, China in Our Time, and Madame Mao "Anyone interested in the relation between war, self-righteousness, and the human spirit will find The Rape of Nanking of fundamental importance. It is scholarly, an exciting investigation, and a work of passion. In places it is almost unbearable to read, but it should be read--only if the past is understood can the future be navigated."Table of ContentsForeword by William C. Kirby Introduction Part I 1. The Path to Nanking 2. Six Weeks of Terror 3. The Fall of Nanking 4. Six Weeks of Horror 5. The Nanking Safety Zone Part II 6. What the World Knew 7. The Occupation of Nanking 8. Judgment Day 9. The Fate of the Survivors Part III 10. The Forgotten Holocaust: A Second Rape Epilogue Epilogue for the 2011 Edition Acknowledgments Notes Index

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Book SynopsisTHE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLEREvery time Churchill took to the airwaves it was as if he were injecting adrenaline-soaked courage directly into the British people Larson tells the story of how that feat was accomplished Fresh, fast and deeply moving.' New York TimesA STARTLING, GRIPPING PORTRAIT OF WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO BE ALIVE IN BRITAIN DURING THE BLITZ, AND WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO BE AROUND CHURCHILL.On Winston Churchill's first day as prime minister, Hitler invaded Holland and Belgium. Poland and Czechoslovakia had already fallen, and the Dunkirk evacuation was just two weeks away. For the next twelve months, the Nazis would wage a relentless bombing campaign, killing 45,000 Britons and destroying two million homes.In The Splendid and the Vile, Erik Larson gives a new and brilliantly cinematic account of how Britain's most iconic leader set about unifying the nation at its most vulnerable moment, and teaching the art of being fearless.'Drawing on once-secret intelligence reports and Trade Review THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER PICKED BY BARACK OBAMA AND BILL GATES AS A BEST BOOK OF 2020 ‘If you want to look back at a really important part of history with fresh eyes, this is the book for you … Gripping and wonderful’Alan Carr ‘An enthralling page-turner’O: The Oprah Magazine ‘Fresh, fast and deeply moving … Larson’s deft portraits show the essential connection that words created between the powerful and the powerless, capturing the moments that defined life for millions struggling to survive the decisions of a few’New York Times Book Review ‘There are countless books about World War II, but there’s only one Erik Larson … There are many things to admire about The Splendid and the Vile, but chief among them is Larson’s electric writing. The book reads like a novel, and even though everyone (hopefully) knows how the war ultimately ended, he keeps the reader turning the pages with his gripping prose.’NPR ‘A particularly gripping read, written with bounce and brio. Larson pulls together vivid vignettes – some moving, some amusing, a few grim … A fine writer of narrative nonfiction history.’Robbie Millen, Times ‘This book is peppered with eye-popping details … A deeply compelling work of history … Without resorting to heroism, it makes one long powerfully for real leadership’Lit Hub ‘I have an early copy of this book on my desk and idly began reading the first pages—and suddenly time disappeared.’Seattle Times ‘Larson’s skill at integrating vast research and talent for capturing compelling human dramas culminate in an inspirational portrait of one of history’s finest, most fearless leaders’Booklist (starred review) ‘A captivating history of Churchill’s heroic year, with more than the usual emphasis on his intimates.’Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

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Book Synopsis2021 BOARDGAMEGEEK GOLDEN GEEK AWARDS BEST 2-PLAYER GAMETHE DICE TOWER SEAL OF EXCELLENCEThe North African Campaign has begun. Take control of the British Army's Long Range Desert Group and operate behind enemy lines or command the formidable Italian forces opposing them. In this standalone sequel to Undaunted: Normandy, players will once again lead their sides through a varied series of missions. As casualties mount, wounded units leave the players' decks, forcing them to adapt in the face of changing tactical circumstances. Use your cards to strengthen your forces, deploy vehicles to advance rapidly across the battlefield, and seize the initiative as you determine the outcome of the North African Theatre.Ages: 14+Players: 2Playing Time: 45-60 minutesContents: 88 cards, 22 large map tiles, 4 dice, tokens, campaign booklet

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Book SynopsisOperation Market Garden was the name given to the US, UK and Polish airborne assault on the Arnhem, Nijmegen and Eindhoven bridges and the ill-fated 30 Corps advance to relieve the hard-pressed paras. While everyone knows that Arnhem was 'a bridge too far', few understand the true reasons for the catastrophic failure to link up. There have been numerous guide books to the fighting around Arnhem in particular but this is the first to tell the whole story as it happened. As the many thousands of satisfied Holt's Guide readers know, the authors have an uncanny knack of getting to the nub of the story, explaining the action clearly and directing the visitor to the key sites in order that he/she gets the most from any visit. With its full colour touring map The Holt's Battlefield Guide to Market Garden will prove as big a success as its forerunners, on both sides of the Atlantic and the Channel.

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Book Synopsis''Vivid, wholly convincing, compelling. One of the best memoirs for years about the experience of flying in war'' Max Hastings, Sunday TelegraphTwo months before the outbreak of WWII, seventeen-year-old Geoffrey Wellum becomes a fighter pilot with the RAF . . .Desperate to get in the air, he makes it through basic training to become the youngest Spitfire pilot in the prestigious 92 Squadron. Thrust into combat almost immediately, Wellum finds himself flying several sorties a day, caught up in terrifying dogfights with German Me 109s. Over the coming months he and his fellow pilots play a crucial role in the Battle of Britain. But of the friends that take to the air alongside Wellum, many never return.***''An intimate account . . . rich in detail'' James Holland, Wall Street Journal, ''Five Best World War II Memoirs''''An extraordinarily deeply moving and astonishingly evocative story. Reading it, you feel you are in the Spitfire with him, at 20,000ft, chased by a German Heinkel, with your ammunition gone'' Independent''A brilliantly fresh, achingly written memoir. Thrilling and frightening on virtually every page . . . Wellum takes you into battle with him. A book for all ages and generations, a treasure'' Daily ExpressTrade ReviewVivid, wholly convincing, compelling. One of the best memoirs for years about the experience of flying in war -- Max Hastings * Sunday Telegraph *It took him 35 years to turn his notebooks into a narrative, and the result is a highly personal account of what it is like to face mortal combat, day and night, and what it does to a man who is barely more than a boy -- Ben MacintyreAn intimate account . . . rich in detail * Wall Street Journal, 'Five Best World War II Memoirs' *An extraordinarily deeply moving and astonishingly evocative story. Reading it, you feel you are in the Spitfire with him, at 20,000ft, chased by a German Heinkel, with your ammunition gone * Independent *A brilliantly fresh, achingly written memoir. Thrilling and frightening on virtually every page . . . Wellum takes you into battle with him. A book for all ages and generations, a treasure * Daily Express *Amazingly fresh and immediate . . . absolutely honest, it is an extraordinarily gripping and powerful story * Evening Standard *There have been countless books about the Battle of Britain. But the combination of immediacy - Geoffrey Wellum had jotted down notes in an exercise book at the time - and distance - another 35 years would pass before he expanded his notes into a narrative - gives this account extraordinary depth and resonance . . . First Light will rank among the finest of Second World War memoirs * Independent *One of the most gripping personal accounts of aerial warfare ever written * Guardian *Wellum's story is astonishing . . . moving yet startlingly clear-eyed * Telegraph *No other account of flying in the Battle of Britain has been articulated as well as Geoffrey's in First Light * Daily Express *

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Book SynopsisFROM THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE HOLOCAUST AND THE NAZI MIND ''You have to read it'' Volodymyr Zelensky''Laurence Rees brilliantly combines powerful eye-witness testimony, vivid narrative and compelling analysis in this superb account'' Professor Sir Ian Kershaw''In this fascinating study of two monsters, Rees is extraordinarily perceptive and original'' Antony BeevorTwo tyrants. Each responsible for the death of millions. This compelling book on Hitler and Stalin - the culmination of thirty years'' work - examines the two leaders during the Second World War, when Germany and the Soviet Union fought the biggest and bloodiest war in history.Hitler''s charismatic leadership may contrast with Stalin''s regimented rule by fear; and his intransigence later in the war may contrast with Stalin''s change in behaviour in response to events. But as bestselling historian Laurence Rees shows, at a macro level, both were prepared to create undreamt-of suffering - in Hitler''s case, most infamously the Holocaust - in order to build the utopias they wanted.Using previously unpublished, startling eyewitness testimony from soldiers, civilians and those who knew both men personally, Laurence Rees - probably the only person alive who has met Germans who worked for Hitler and Russians who worked for Stalin - challenges long-held popular misconceptions about two of the most important figures in history. This is a master work from one of our finest historians.Trade ReviewIn this fascinating study of two monsters, Rees is extraordinarily perceptive and original -- Antony BeevorComing from one of the world's experts on the Second World War, this is an important and original - and devastating - account of Hitler and Stalin as dictators. A must read -- Professor Robert Service, author of Stalin: A Biography.Laurence Rees brilliantly combines powerful eye-witness testimony, vivid narrative and compelling analysis in this superb account of how two terrible dictators led their countries in the most destructive and inhumane war in history -- Professor Sir Ian Kershaw, author of Hitler – Hubris and Hitler – NemesisA brave and remarkable work. Revelatory, gripping and hugely relevant, it shows Hitler and Stalin as you've never known them. Truly a story of our time, with so many lessons for the troubled world we inhabit today, it will revolutionise your understanding of these two foremost tyrants -- Damien Lewis, author of The Nazi HuntersLaurence Rees's 'Hitler and Stalin' is an excellent addition to a subject that fascinates and horrifies in equal measure. Presenting this complex history with his usual clarity, his latest study is an enthralling read. By weaving many fresh eyewitness accounts into the narrative, offering new insights and commanding his reader's attention despite the huge scope of his task, Rees has written a book that will appeal to readers of biography and history alike -- Julia Boyd, author of Travellers in the Third ReichLaurence Rees has produced a vivid and terrifying portrait of the twentieth century's two most brutal tyrants. His mastery of the subject shines through on every page. Provocative, gripping and full of fresh insights, Hitler and Stalin is narrative history at its very best. -- Henry Hemming, author of Churchill's IcemanA fascinating history... always compelling -- David Aaronovitch * The Times *Impressive . . . well paced and well informed with an eye for telling anecdotes and colourful character sketches . . . Rees' decision to add personal stories to his narrative adds an important layer to our understanding of both the dictators themselves and their victims -- Robert Gerwarth * The Daily Telegraph *[There are] many gems in this impressive book -- Tony Rennell * Daily Mail *

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Book SynopsisAn accompaniment to the best-selling guide to the area, now sold separately.

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Book SynopsisWinner of the Jewish Quarterly Wingate Literary Prize and the Wolfson History PrizeIn March of 1933, a disused factory surrounded by barbed wire held 223 prisoners in the town of Dachau. By the end of 1945, the SS concentration camp system had become an overwhelming landscape of terror. Twenty-two large camps and over one thousand satellite camps throughout Germany and Europe were at the heart of the Nazi campaign of repression and intimidation. The importance of the camps in terms of Nazi history and our modern world cannot be questioned.Dr Nikolaus Wachsmann is the first historian to write a complete history of the camps. Combining the political and the personal, Wachsmann will examine the organisation of such an immense genocidal machine, whilst drawing a vivid picture of life inside the camps for the individual prisoner. The book gives voice to those typically forgotten in Nazi history: the ''social deviants'', criminals and unwanted ethnicities that all faced the terror of the camps. Wachsmann explores the practice of institutionalised murder and inmate collaboration with the SS selectively ignored by many historians. Pulling together a wealth of in-depth research, official documents, contemporary studies and the evidence of survivors themselves, KL is a complete but accessible narrative.Trade ReviewIt is hard to imagine that Nik Wachsmann's superb book, surely to become the standard work on Nazi concentration camps, will ever be surpassed. Based on a huge array of widely scattered sources, it is a gripping as well as comprehensive and authoritative study of this grim but highly important topic -- Ian Kershaw, author of The End: The Defiance and Destruction of Hitler’s Germany, 1944–1945This is the fullest and most comprehensive history of the Nazi concentration camps in any language: a magnificent feat of research, full of arresting detail and cogent analysis, readable as well as authoritative: an extraordinary achievement that will immediately take its place as the standard work on the subject -- Sir Richard J Evans, author of the Third Reich trilogyThis book is a remarkable achievement. Nikolaus Wachsmann has written the first integrated history of Nazi concentration camps, unifying in a single narrative the policies and measures governing the inception and growth of the system, the context in which the monstrous KL developed and how each of its stages and facets was recorded and remembered by its victims. The study is essential for a further understanding of the Third Reich -- Saul Friedlander, author of The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939-1945 (winner of the Pulitzer Prize)Nikolaus Wachsmann has written an admirable historical overview of the Nazi concentration camps, effectively combining decades of recent scholarship with his own original research. He captures both the trajectory of dynamic change through which the camp system evolved as well as the experiences and agency - however limited - of the prisoner community. This is an impressive and valuable book -- Christopher R. Browning, author of Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in PolandTelling the story of the KL means facing up to a formidable challenge: how to make the camps relatable, as places where real people lived, worked and died, rather than transcendental symbols of evil? . . . [Wachsmann] proves himself equal to this challenge . . . thanks to Wachsmann's skill as a writer, it manages to be much more than a doleful trudge through a universe of ever-increasing death and terror * Independent *Monumentally impressive . . . seems certain to become the definitive history of the Nazi concentration camps . . . his scholarship brings new life to a familiar subject -- Dominic Sandbrook * Sunday Times *Profoundly important . . . exceptional . . . will surely become the standard work on the subject -- Laurence Rees * Mail on Sunday *Wachsmann has in effect united the best of the German and the British schools of grand World War II history: hugely but humbly exhaustive research with attention to character and to detailed narrative * Wall Street Journal *Wachsmann's meticulous research and unwavering eye for detail is never permitted to detract from the individual human tragedies . . . so much more than another academic record of the holocaust * Good Book Guide *Hugely impressive . . . Wachsmann has produced the standard historical work on the Nazi camps . . . KL represents the acme of what the historical disciple can achieve * BBC History magazine *[A] magnificent work of scholarship . . . every page of Nikolaus Wachsmann's magisterial account is suffused with humanity * Literary Review *Gripping, humane, and beautifully written * New York Review of Books *A work of prodigious scholarship * New York Times *Every page is suffused with humanity and anyone who wants to understand the Nazis should read it * Jewish Chronicle *Hugely impressive . . . Wachsmann pulls off a remarkable feat: he not only provides an account of Konzentrationslager, or KL of the books title, he does so in a readable, accessible way. KL represents an acme of what the historical discipline can achieve -- Dan Stone * BBC History magazine *It is difficult to do justice to the brilliance of Wachsmann's comprehensive history . . . engrossing as well as illuminating -- Joanna Bourke * New Statesman *Wachsmann's book is a world-making history * London Review of Books *In devastating and undeniable detail, KL sets out the full story of the camps -- Nicholas Shakespeare * Telegraph *A staggeringly well-informed and enormously moving record of suffering and evil . . .the terrifying lesson of Wachsmann's account is not that any of us might have been an inmate. It is that any of us might have been a guard -- Dominic Sandbrook * Sunday Times *A truly excellent book on one of history's darkest moments * History Today *This is both a panoptic and an intimate history of the camps: we get the big picture as well as the telling detail(the SS officer who opened doors with his elbow rather than his hand because he was worried about germs). It is a huge and very necessary contribution to our understanding of this obscene subject. It makes us think anew: about how the camps worked, what it was like in them and how they fitted into the machinery of the state -- Nicholas Lezard * Guardian *

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